Konoha's Kokucho
by lylica
Summary: It was on my seventh birthday that my life ended. It was also the same day that my life began. It's odd how these things happen in an instant, before you can even blink. And the worst of it all...The day began so harmlessly. Currently on hiatus.
1. Prologue

**Hi everyone!**

**Welcome to my story! **

**Title: **_**Kokucho**_** is Japanese and means black swan**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any naruto characters except for my own and the story line.**

**Hope you like the story! **

**xoxo lily**

_Prologue_

_Seizonsha held her ears, as another blast shook the earth beneath her. _

_The sky had turned dark grey and she could smell the scent of blood and destruction when she inhaled. They had been bombing the Land of Sky for the past twelve days, after it had challenged the Five Great Shinobi Countries. Her heart squeezed anxiously as she slowly rose from her crouching position to look through the key hole of her house. All she saw were old brick walls now reduced to shambles. What had become of their nation?_

_A kick in her belly drew her attention from her grief-filled thoughts. She lay a hand on her protruding abdomen. Was her baby seeing all of this too?_

_Tears filled her eyes. She and her husband had had so many dreams. They had wanted to raise their child in the Land of Sky, known for its peace and quiet, but now..._

_A harsh knock made her cringe. She backed away from the door, hiding behind the table and crouched again. Her thoughts were racing._

_Who could it be? What could they want? What if it was one of the enemy soldiers? They'd hurt her. And her baby...What would they do with it? There! There was the knock again! They were banging at her door! She shivered. What should she do now? She grabbed the knife nestled in her skirt. She knew she didn't stand a chance if it really was the enemy, but at least...She'd die trying._

_She crept to the door. Just as she was about to turn the knob, she heard a familiar voice say:_

_"Seizonsha, it's me. Open up already!"_

_Her heart sighed with relief, but she wasn't ready to buy it. She knew that in this world, anyone could pose as her husband to gain her trust. She would have to make sure._

_"How do I know, it's really you? Prove it!" She was glad, her voice didn't reveal her fear._

_"Fine", the man said. "I'm sending Washi in."_

_The next moment an eagle had materialized in front of her. She recognized its brown, black coloring immediately and cried with relief._

_"Thank goodness! Come over here Washi!"_

_The eagle hopped onto the arm she had offered and nuzzled her neck. She quickly opened the door, almost sobbing at the sight of her husband, Daisuke. His vest was bloody and the right half of his face bruised, but he was alive. _

_"There. there now." He gathered her in his arms as she cried with relief and happiness._

_"What happened?", she asked, after her sobs decreased to the extent that she could form words._

_His face turned grim._

_"A lot is happening and none of it is good", Daisuke muttered. " It's not safe here anymore. You're leaving the Land of Sky."_

_"What?!" Seizonsha pushed him away. "How can you even say that?! I'm not going anywhere! I'm staying here, with you!"_

_Her husband's face hardened._

_"Understand Seizonsha, will you? You can't stay here any longer. The Land is falling into pieces. Not long and we will all be falling from the sky towards our very death! It's not even safe for us Shinobi out here! And you?! You are a mere civilian, and a 9 months-pregnant one, at that! You can't stay here anymore, I won't allow it!", his voice had increased with every word._

_Daisuke walked into the house, taking a thick, red book from the shelf, grabbed her hand and started yanking her through the streets. Lightning thundered above them._

_"You can't do this to me!", Sezonsha sobbed. " I won't leave you."_

_He looked back, the expression on his face one of pure pain._

_"I'm not doing it only for you¨", he shouted over the thunder of the bombs. "I'm doing it for our baby!"_

_He turned around, facing away from her. That was when Seizonsha realized that she was losing him. She struggled, tried to free herself, but it was useless. He was so much stronger than her. Daisuke pulled her with him, stepping over the remains of people, ones Seizonsha didn't dare to look at, for the fear that she might recognize the faces of the ones once dear to her. He took her to edge of the Land, where planes were being boarded with other civilians like her to bring them to a safe place, so that not all of their loved ones would die._

_"Take her", Daisuke ordered to the pilot, another Shinobi. He then turned to Seizonsha._

_"Take this. So that our future generations never forget where their family came from and who they are." He placed the book in her hands. Seizonsha shook her hand._

_"You might need it. It has all the important-"_

_"Sshh", he silenced her, his blue eyes determined. "We will not discuss about this."_

_"But-", Seizonsha started._

_"Take it. Go", he said, his voice now soft and his face revealing everything he could not say._

_"Please", she begged, but he shook his head, taking her face into his rough palms, making her look into his eyes._

_"Go", he repeated, his eyes pleading to listen to him._

_She opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything, not when he looked at her like that._

_And so he gently pushed her into the plane. She couldn't stop looking at him, not even when the doors were shut, keeping him from her view. The pilot started the plane and it took off, leaving The Land of Sky behind._

_It was the last time she saw her husband. It was also the last time she saw her home._

_After an hour of flight, the plane was landed. Seizonsha stepped out of it, her bare feet feeling the softness of wet grass. The weather was still dark and bleak. Everything looked bleak to her at the moment. She furiously wiped away a few of her tears._

_The camp of the refugees was small and it hadn't even been two days when the siren was blown in the middle of the night._

_"Run!", someone shouted. "Suna's Shinobis are on the way!" Hell broke out. Everyone started running, pushing and shoving anyone, who got in their way. Their own safety was the most important. No one cared about the nine months pregnant woman. _

_So Seizonsha ran too. Her muscles were aching, her body was wobbly because of it's weight, but she ran. She ran through the night, in the wee hours of the morning until she tripped. That's when she snapped out of her panic. And that's when her water broke too._

_Her blood curling scream was heard through the whole forest. Call it coincidence or destiny, but she was not an half an hour away from a Hidden Village. It was the Hiden Village of the Leaf, also know as Konohagakure._

_It was there that Seizonsha gave birth to her baby. It was also the village that Seizonsha would forever share a love and hate relationship with, for it was Konoha that ultimately led to the fall of her nation, the Land of Sky, in the war which would later be known as the Second Shinobi World War, but it was also Konoha that saved her and her baby's life. _

_But this isn't the story of Seizonsha or her baby. No, this is the story of her baby's baby whose life was forever bond to Konoha through this incident and who had a destiny that would make it known as Konoha's Kokucho._


	2. The Bonded

**A/N**: Hi everyone! I am sorry, it took so long to update, but I am in time pressure at the moment, since university just started for me. I'll update each second week, if I have time, maybe even after a week once in a while, so please have patience with me!;-) This is the last chapter before we will meet our OC. She will take the story forward then.;-) Hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

_The Kokucho: Chapter 1_

_The Bonded_

_"Aahh!"_

_Riko closed her eyes, as another wave of pain washed through her body. She had been lying on a cot since the past six hours when the labor pain had become too much to bear, the waves coming in shorter periods. The baby was almost there. She could feel it. It wouldn't be too long. _

_It was past four in the morning, the sky was pitch black. She could here the faint pitter patter of the rain outside the window. The room lay in darkness except for the two candles burning at the dressing table. _

_Another tremor shook her body, causing her to wail and grab the white sheets for support. She threw her head to both sides, eyes searching for her husband, who still wasn't there. The rain outside was definitely not helping. Why did he have to take a mission right now of all the times? He'd better hurry up, otherwise she would..._

_"Riko, breathe in deeply...Good, and now...Release it."_

_Riko obeyed, her face scrunching up in discomfort._

_Seizonsha, her mother-in-law, sat at her head, gently wiping the sweat of her face._

_"Oka-san...He...He still isn't here", Riko stuttered. Seizonsha brushed her brown hair calmingly._

_"He'll be here", she soothed. "You just concentrate on the baby. Taka will be here any moment."_

_And as if she had summoned him herself, she heard the door being opened not one second later and hurried footsteps towards the bedroom, where they were. Riko turned her head in the direction of the commotion, seeing her husband at the door. She smiled._

_"You...You finally made it...Ahhh!"_

_In the next second, Taka was next to her, green eyes similar to the ones Seizonsha possessed, looking at her with worry, holding her hand, as her breathing increased._

_Feeling her husband close to her, Riko felt her worry disappear, as the waves of pain augmented steadily. She found herself in a daze, time having no importance beyond the mind-numbing pain, until she heard Seizonsha._

_"Push, Riko! Push!", Seizonsha ordered, moving in between her legs swiftly, her form quite lethal for a woman in her late fifties. It was time._

_So Riko pushed. It was the most painful half an hour of her life. Even being a ninja hadn't introduced her to this type of pain, as she heaved with breath, as sweat poured through all her pores, as she screamed and pushed vigorously. But it also hadn't introduced her to the utter happiness that she felt, when she heard the first cries of a baby fill the room. Her and Taka's baby._

_Seizonsha scooped the little thing in her arms, expertly cutting the birth cord bond to the baby. She took a soft towel, gently cleansing the crying baby of its blood._

_"Its a girl", Seizonsha announced, her heart filled with pride._

_Riko and Taka stared at each other in wonder. Riko extended her arms._

_"I...I want to hold her", she said, her voice exhausted._

_"Here."_

_Seizonsha helped Riko sit up a little and placed the still crying baby in her hands. Riko looked at the little being in her hands, her heart swelling at the sight of her daughter._

_"Shhh...Don't cry now. Mommy is here", she cooed, gently rocking the baby in her arms. Taka put his arms around her._

_The baby stopped crying, intrigued by the voice speaking to it. It stared at her with big grey eyes that would eventually change to a hazel brown just like her own._

_It had a little nose and puffy little cheeks that Riko kissed. The skin was a glowing white, contrasted by dark black hair what she had inherited from her father and grandmother. And there was a little faint beauty mark on her right cheek. She looked so..._

_"Beautiful", Taka murmured as if he had heard her thoughts. They looked at each other and smiled, before Taka kissed her forehead lovingly._

_"Thank you", he said. Riko only smiled, tears glistening in her eyes. She looked at her baby again, slightly tracing her cheek with her digit finger._

_"She looks so bright and...pure", Riko murmured. "Lets name her Akira, shall we?"_

_Taka nodded. He took his daughter in his arms._

_"Akira." The child stared at him, as if she was realizing he was calling her. Taka smiled, as she grabbed his tanned pinky finger, that he stretched out to her. "Its perfect", he said to Riko and Seizonsha, who just smiled._

_Seizonsha couldn't describe her feelings. She had raised her son in the memory of her husband and hadn't even realized how the years flew by and now...Now he had a family of his own. Looking at Riko and Taka filled her with pride, but also with a faint longing, for she hadn't been able to experience this with her husband. She prayed that no one ever took the happiness of raising their child together from them._

_She was about to get up, when a strange honking made her turn to the window. The rain had stopped and first rays of sunrise were breaking the dark clouds. And there... Seizonsha gasped. There stood a beautiful swan at the window. It stretched its wings, the white glowing slightly red in the orange yellow of the sky._

_Seizonsha and Taka stared at each other, having the same thought: Already?_

_The swan jumped in and waded to them gracefully, until it was in front of Riko and the baby. While Riko knew what this was about, she couldn't help but feel a little frightened, clutching her baby tightly to herself. On the contrary, baby Akira stretched her hand and tried to touch the swan. The swan honked lightly at that, which almost sounded like a laugh._

_It bowed its head and let Akira stroke its head. Riko loosened her cramped grip on Akira, feeling that the swan wouldn't do anything. Akira gurgled happily at touching its soft feathers. The swan bent further down until it touched Akira's belly with its beak. Akira glowed in a bright light, causing everyone to close their eyes._

_"My name is Sora. I am Akira's Bonded", the swan's voice spoke._

_The light subsided and the swan was gone. Only a feather floating to the floor indicated what had just happened. Two days later, a faint swan appeared on the back of Akira's left shoulder, sealing the bond that was for life._

_Mist lay over the tips of the mountains in the Land of Earth in the early hours before sunrise. On such a tip lied a temple, obscured from the view of most humans._

_Mio opened her silver eyes, when she saw the swan flying towards her. She smiled and walked towards the swan that landed at the temple's stairs, her long silver hair swaying with each step. As she reached it, the swan bowed it's head in respect. _

_Mio let out a giggle before she touched the swan's head and closed her eyes. The symbol of eternity on the palm of her hand flared to life, before dying down slowly. She opened her eyes seeing what was, what had been and what would be._

_"Akira, is it?" She smiled knowingly. "She is going to have to be strong for many people in her coming life, but most of all for herself." She focused her eyes on the sunrise which was coloring the sky in a beautiful orange. _

_" We will meet soon, Akira. For now...Begin your life and learn what living in all its forms means."_

_Mio walked back to the inside of the white temple, the gates closing behind her. The swan took of, flying back to Konoha, where its Bonded awaited it._


End file.
